Inspiration: MIT’s Silk Pavilion

MIT’s Mediated Matter group has constructed a silk dome using 6,500 silkworms–the first step in biological 3-D printing. The idea itself is, of course, fascinating. Here is a description of the dome from the MIT Mediated Matter webpage for the project:

The new MIT Media Lab building (E14) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Silk Pavilion explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication on product and architectural scales.The primary structure was created of 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) machine. Inspired by the silkworm’s ability to generate a 3D cocoon out of a single multi-property silk thread (1km in length), the overall geometry of the pavilion was created using an algorithm that assigns a single continuous thread across patches providing various degrees of density. Overall density variation was informed by the silkworm itself deployed as a biological printer in the creation of a secondary structure. A swarm of 6,500 silkworms was positioned at the bottom rim of the scaffold spinning flat non-woven silk patches as they locally reinforced the gaps across CNC-deposited silk fibers. Following their pupation stage the silkworms were removed. Resulting moths can produce 1.5 million eggs with the potential of constructing up to 250 additional pavilions. Affected by spatial and environmental conditions including geometrical density as well as variation in natural light and heat, the silkworms were found to migrate to darker and denser areas. Desired light effects informed variations in material organization across the surface area of the structure. A season-specific sun path diagram mapping solar trajectories in space dictated the location, size and density of apertures within the structure in order to lock-in rays of natural light entering the pavilion from South and East elevations. The central oculus is located against the East elevation and may be used as a sun-clock. Parallel basic research explored the use of silkworms as entities that can “compute” material organization based on external performance criteria. Specifically, we explored the formation of non-woven fiber structures generated by the silkworms as a computational schema for determining shape and material optimization of fiber-based surface structures. Research and Design by the Mediated Matter Research Group at the MIT Media Lab in collaboration with Prof. Fiorenzo Omenetto (TUFTS University) and Dr. James Weaver (WYSS Institute, Harvard University).

Potential applications are varied, but include fashion and architecture, and it’s possible to imagine a system like this being deployed in the aftermath of a natural disaster to build environmentally friendly shelters for refugees — if they could get over the slightly terrifying notion of living in what looks to be a giant spider web. “The project speculates about the possibility in the future to implement a biological swarm approach to 3D printing,” says Oxman. ”Imagine thousands of synthetic silkworm guided by environmental conditions such as light or heat — supporting the deposition of natural materials using techniques other than layering. This will allow us to exclude waste and achieve increased control over material location, structure and property.” Oxman sees a big future for these tiny creatures. “Google is for information what swarm manufacturing may one day become for design fabrication.”

Photograph courtesy Russell Watkins, U.K. Department for International Development from NationalGeographic.com.

What I love most is the idea of synthetic silkworms crafting garments, structures, and more out of raw material like these silkworms. “Swarm manufacturing” reminds me of a story I read some time ago about rogue nanobots swarming around the planet infecting people and taking over their minds and actions. Now imagine a swarm of these manufacturers who, perhaps, got loose and began building weird structures of their own design. I imagine a haunting, spider-webbed landscape much like when floodwaters forced spiders into the trees of Pakistan, where they spun out of control (pardon my pun). What sort of buildings might they create? If their primary directive is to create, and they were somehow imbued with a higher intelligence, or the swarm itself at least was, what would happen? I’m also reminded of a story called “I, Rowboat” by Cory Doctorow which I came across in the 24th annual Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology edited by Gardner Dozois, my all-time favorite science fiction anthology. In it, a row-boat with artificial intelligence worries over the coral reef which has gained sentience. That idea, of a swarm/hive/colony of creatures coming together to form an intelligence, has always stuck with me, and frankly scares me every time I see a bee hive or an ant hill.

As a writer, the question now becomes whether I feather this idea into an existing plot line, or craft a plot line around the idea? The former is probably smarter, and of course would be much easier, but I always end up feeling like it doesn’t do justice to such an awesome concept. A secondary concern of mine is the ever-present feeling that the future is happening right now, that it’s in fact zooming past me at dizzying speeds and I simply can’t write fast enough to keep up with all the advancements. The minute I put character to screen, any technology I write about will already be obsolete. It’s a very difficult feeling to shake, but one that I’m just going to have to live with. Perhaps my stories will be like reading Sherlock Holmes or Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea–readers one hundred years from now (if I should be so lucky) will read my quaint little stories and marvel at how we got along with such rudimentary technology.

But going back to the question of plot, I believe my writing teachers would say that it would be a terrible idea to form a plot around a concept. “Fiction is not about ideas, it’s about people,” they would say. And I would agree, to an extent. Of course it’s really a balance between characters and plot, and the style of the author determines how much of each is balanced into the story. Some writers have nothing but character. Other writers have nothing but plot. Hugh Ferrer said, in his Iowa University Summer Writing Festival weekend workshop said that story is a chariot pulled by the character horse and the plot horse. You have to control both in order to maintain a smooth ride. I completely agree with this, but he also said to think about the kinds of stories I like to read, and I love science fiction because of the big ideas they tackle. This is why I loved “I, Row-Boat” and why it has stuck with me for years. Those big ideas. It’s also why I’ll always be an Isaac Asimov and Phillip K. Dick girl. They tackled the big ideas too. So yes, it would be safer to feather this idea into an existing plot, perhaps as world building texture, but at the same time it would a lot of fun to write a story devoted to this idea so that atmosphere of its consequences can be fully explored.